Today’s Idol Appearances
- NewNowNext Awards tape in front of a Live audience at the Avalon in Hollywood CA. Adam Lambert will present
- Carrie Underwood appears on the Ellen Degeneres Show
- Constantine Maroulis performs on the American Idol results show 8 pm FOX
- The Top 9 Idols will appear on TMZ. Check your local listings for time and channel
- X Factor auditions begin today in Miami, FL
Lee DeWyze tweets, “Officially come May I’ll be flying to Hong Kong for the first time! Bali, Manila, Jakarta… Two weeks of shows and good times.”
Gloria Estefan made a surprise appearance at today’s X Factor auditions in Miami, FL. 7, 500 people registered to audition Thursday at the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center today.
Kris Allen tweets, “Started writing a song with @destefanomusic and @jesscatesmusic and we got stuck. So….., we started another one…The new one sounds like Samuel L. Jackson should sing it. It will make sense when you hear it.”
More Headlines after the JUMP…
‘The X Factor” Launches First-Ever Audition Studios Across America
“These studios were brought to my attention some months ago, and we think they are brilliant way to audition for those people who haven’t been able to make it to the cities, ” said Simon Cowell. “MyStudio has kindly let us use these high-tech studios for THE X FACTOR auditions, which record studio-quality sound and video to make the audition tape, and I’m very excited for anyone who decides to use these to audition.”
Read more at TVByTheNumbers
Exclusive: Idol Singers Hooking Up With Twilight Stars!
Looks like American Idol’s Paul McDonald is a secret Twi-hard!
The 26-year-old season 10 finalist has been going on a series of virtual dates via Skype with Twilight’s Nikki Reed, 22, reports the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
And as it turns out, Reed’s not the only film star making an impression on the Idols. Reed’s costar Taylor Lautner has even jumped in to chat with his No. 1 fan, 16-year-old finalist Lauren Alaina.
Read more at US
FOX 11 Backstage Interviews
Idol Finalists Switch It Up On Performance Show: MyFoxLA.com
‘American Idol’ behind the scenes: ‘Idol’ coaches talk the Top 9 — EXCLUSIVE
JACOB LUSK — “Man in the Mirror” (Michael Jackson)
When you go against two music icons — will.i.am and Jimmy Iovine — those are forces to be reckoned with. What I hear a lot is “I don’t want to be disrespectful, ” and they all say it. And [changing songs] was agony for him. He didn’t want to be disrespectful, but he wanted to be true to himself.
HALEY REINHART — “Piece of My Heart” (Janis Joplin cover of Erma Franklin)
DB: She wanted to do another song, but it wasn’t eligible. So we went for a song that was close to it, and that became “Piece of My Heart.” She said, “Well, they said they want to hear Joplin, I’ll give them that.” It happened with Ashthon Jones, when they said, “You’re like Diana Ross, ” so she sang Diana Ross. It happens because [the singers] don’t want to be disrespectful. It really is that simple.
The kids are having a hard time saying NO to the producers
Read more at Entertainment Weekly
‘American Idol’ contestant Paul McDonald’s vocal cord nodules are affecting his performance
McDonald’s parents, Susan and Dave McDonald, and his sister, Beth, who is in Los Angeles for the show, can’t comment because of a confidentiality agreement with Fox. But family friends and his grandparents, John and Peggy Spratling of Albertville, acknowledge McDonald has non-threatening nodules on his vocal cords and is taking medicine from a Huntsville doctor for it. He’s also been battling sinusitis since he started competing on the show and his grandfather believes that may also have a big impact on his voice.
“He’s been dealing with the nodules on his throat for a while, ” family friend Martha Stanley said this week. “I know it’s got to be affecting his voice.”
Read more at AL.com
Constantine Maroulis’ Greatest Hits
So much about Constantine Maroulis’ season 4 audition was prophetic: not only did it open the doors for rockers to enter the competition, inspiring the likes of David Cook, Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert, it foreshadowed the arrival of a certain American Idol judge. So it’s only fitting that one of Idol’s first rockers will return to that very stage tonight, as Season 10’s Top 9 pay tribute to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Picking his top five Idol performances was no easy task, which is why I chose six.
Read more at THR
THIA MEGIA DOES A FAREWELL PERFORMANCE FOR FANS
When we hear the name Thia Megia we’re always going to think “a voice that’s smooth like honey”. We’re also going to think back to the first time she sang to us on the fly, sharing a sample of the little homemade ditty she created for her first big heartthrobs, The Jonas Brothers! (It was a beautiful song btw!). Along with Naima, Thia also had the opportunity to sing a farewell song to some of her fans at our home radio station 102.7 KIIS-FM, so we wanted to share the video with you.
See the Video at FOX All Access
Kidd Kraddick Thinks Idol Robbed Tim Halperin
CLEAR CHANNEL Top 40 KHKS (106.1 KISS-FM)/DALLAS morning maven and syndicated wakeup man KIDD KRADDICK thinks that AMERICAN IDOL got it wrong by voting off contestant, TIM HALPERIN. To prove it, KRADDICK is starting an “IDOL Got It Wrong Campaign” to show his 2 million+ listeners just how talented an artist HALPERIN truly is.
HALPERIN plays a big part in this campaign — he needs to prove that IDOL Got it Wrong to KRADDICK’s audience. To do so, HALPERIN will come to the KIDD KRADDICK in the Morning studios every THURSDAY morning after IDOL and perform a song that a contestant sang the previous night. Listeners will then vote on who they think performed the song better — TIM HALPERIN or the IDOL contestant.
Read more at All Access
‘American Idol: Post-Show Breakdown: Paul McDonald and Jacob Lusk Discuss Song Choice
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame week brought a lot of soul and its share of country but relatively little rock. But one thing all the contestants seemed to share? Indecisiveness when it came to song choice. Jacob Lusk and Paul McDonald broke it down after Wednesday’s show…
Jacob Lusk: “With the original song choice, I just thought it was too raunchy. I’m an artist. I have songs that are sexual, but to just say, “Let’s do it! Let’s just get it crackin’ baby, arrrrr!” is not the message that I really want to tell the world. And this is on a global scale. Especially with what’s going on right now in Japan and even here in the United States, I think it’s important that every time you have the chance to address America, you give them a little bit of your heart, and with “Man in the mirror, ” I was able to do that and say, “I want to make this change, and hopefully you’ll look at yourself and want to make a change too…” I went completely out of my box [because] I am not a Michael Jackson-type singer, but I found something that I could connect with lyrically, and I think I came out pretty good.”
Read more at THR
‘Idol’ Rejects — We’re Going on Tour … For Charity!
Multiple sources tell TMZ, former “Idol” contestants Chris Medina, Rob Bolin and Tim Halperin are hitting the road on a 5-city tour, spanning 4 states — starting off in Toledo and ending in Chicago — and the majority of the profits will go to benefit Medina’s disabled fiancée.
Read more at TMZ
‘American Idol’ Contestants Get Media Training at TMZ
The American Idol hopefuls will get some media training on Thursday’s episode — at TMZ’s studio — seemingly to prepare them for a possible life full of reporters, photographers and video cameras.
TMZ co-founders and executive producers Harvey Levin and Jim Paratore hinted as much during a New York appearance on Wednesday.
“Two days ago, all the Idol contestants came into the office, ” said Levin. For Thursday’s episode, “they are doing this three-minute segment where we are giving these kids advice.”
Read more at THR
Is Steven Tyler turning into ‘Idol’s’ new Paula?
There’s no question that Steven Tyler has been one of the stars of “American Idol” this season. Along with fellow newcomer Jennifer Lopez, he’s brought some freshness and humor to a show that had started to go stale. And during the auditions and the Hollywood round, he was the most unpredictable member of the crew.
From the beginning, there didn’t seem to be a filter between Tyler’s brain and his dialogue, which caused host Ryan Seacrest to jokingly give him a mouth covering that mimics the graphic the folks at Fox put over his mouth when he swears. And the thing is, Tyler can get away with that language because those profanities are never mean-spirited. They’re just his way of saying he really likes someone or what they are doing onstage.
Read more at MSNBC
NAIMA ADEDAPO GIVES A FAREWELL PERFORMANCE
Having to watch Naima Adedapo say good-bye was heartbreaking. We fell in love with her style, her passion for music, and the uniqueness she brought to the A.I. stage. We’ll also remember her telling us she couldn’t answer our celebrity crush question because the guy she had the biggest crush on was her husband :-) Our home radio station 102.7 KIIS-FM hosted an exclusive farewell performance for Naima & a few lucky die-hard American Idol fans a couple of days ago.
Watch at FOX All Access
Carrie Underwood Opens Up About ‘Soul Surfer’ Acting Debut
“This whole movie, this whole project is important, ” Underwood said about signing on. “It’s important to get Bethany’s story out, and people being entertained but also, hopefully, people leave the movie theater feeling different about themselves in their lives and inspired, ” she said.
Underwood added that this was a project she really believed in and of which she wanted to be a part. “It wasn’t some silly nothing movie that in 10 years nobody is going to care [about]. Hopefully, people watch this and really take something away from it.”
See the video at MTV
CARRIE UNDERWOOD DOESN’T CONSIDER HERSELF A CELEBRITY
Carrie Underwood became known to the world in 2005 when she won the American Idol competition. Since then, Underwood has become one of the most famous country singers in the world, winning numerous Grammy Awards and other accolades. She has also hosted her own television special. This Friday, Underwood makes her feature film debut in the drama Soul Surfer, which is based on a true story.
Despite all her fame and recognition, Underwood told us that she doesn’t consider herself a celebrity, and thinks she lives the most boring life when she is not working. (Click on the audio player to hear Carrie Underwood)
Listen to the Audio at FOX All Access
U.S. Music Sales Down Just 1.3% In First Quarter
Total U.S. music sales slipped just 1.3% in the first quarter from the same period a year earlier, thanks to a surge in sales during six of the last seven weeks of the quarter.
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The relatively modest decline marked a sharp improvement from a 6.1% year-on-year sales decline in the first quarter of 2010.
Album sales for the quarter ending on April 3, including track-equivalent albums (whereby 10 digital tracks equals one album), are down to 111.8 million units from 113.2 million in the corresponding period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In contrast, last year at this time, albums and track equivalents were down 6.1% from 120.6 million units at the end of the first quarter in 2009.
Read more at THR
‘Rock of Ages’: Director Adam Shankman on casting Diego Boneta, putting Tom Cruise through ‘rock-star boot camp’ — EXCLUSIVE
Constantine Maroulis, who was nominated for a Tony while starring in the Broadway version of Rock of Ages, made it known he wanted the role in the movie, too. Why didn’t you cast him?
Constantine is the absolute perfect human being. But I am deeply committed to casting at authentic age — I don’t want to have to ask anybody to act like they are 23. I wanted a 23 year old. Just like when I made Hairspray, I wanted a young girl, and when I cast Nikki she was literally still in high school. When you’re dealing with this heightened reality business, I think it’s better to go with what is as authentic as possible, and Diego is absolutely that. He is kid who came to Los Angeles with a dream and who sings and has an amazing voice, and drive. And he’s also as honest and sweet as you can possibly make him and he’s authentically the age. It creates a piece of something on screen that I don’t have to fabricate.
Read more at Entertainment Weekly
